Device for timing and feeding containers



March 29, 1932. H. A. FINK DEVICE FOR TIMING AND FEEDING CONTAINERSFiled March 23, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet gmmo@ 4, 5f

March 29, `1932. H, A FlNK 1,851,167

DEVICE FOR TIMIG AND FEEDING CONTAINERS Filed March 23, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 y Y tafiiieifs but ad-jiaceitthe same 'sothatieia'tiveV-j' Y y `1y small containers canheehgaged and timed therebyThe invention reiatesfftro .new and iisefv'uV-l ingilledcontainers te aclosing machine.A f Ali-'object #of the'inve'nton isto .provideg'ers'fiis'posed SQA/esto' engagethe VVVcontainers in a piane `aboveVthe *bottom ends of dche coil- A' r 'willin part be-heei-iifter more 2is 'jan end vvieWjQf the* same; f i

Fig. 3' is fa-side--vie`wf of the supporting meneoi' thetimngjchain and'showing the thewM.. serif-Vick May iigisammere is shown anddeec'ibedai'mcchan'ism for feeding filled screw: .i The cont :are delveedato.

Iers-'arie ,rec'eiyel'A promisciidus'iy byja'v-iating Which,"a's'1`ttravels, ere@ against the feeding re :'md insure that they e ddim'athepi'oper ti'mete. be taken bythe-thfeadjo'f the drum;

sepaate the con f" the' echtaiiiei which can he" timedr by Ithis timingscrew has siiding conia'ctwithfth'e c0112` ,tai-ner arid 'this apt't'olsciffitchiandg melf the; decoratedqface oftherfrontalilet.:r l

and Consiss inizitiveling chain having tiIh-V y ing Vfi1igeis,which4chain isec disposed'fasft I pass over thefdlsc? onto; Whichthecontainers iiig'trhe'c Ontaliners fagait the vvisiav"clingichainlr fu fThe 'finger Tisf-iiaveliiigi a; straightA path as iftzihcves :frombehind the. guide. over thedisc mcuntefioiina tr-veling'chain nicvingfin'A A hoii'zpntal ,:pLaiie f Ther chain vruns over epi-pcket ,Wheelsmoiinfed; loin suihableQshais which: :are dilven from the shau t'carrying the t drum which yieceives and feedsithefcontainers n tuthefcloeiii'g machine. i The disc is ii'so'o'p- 'era-ted'ifi-01:11f theshaft actiizite'd@ by the; duim;

Referiingmcre n detail@ te the @haii/wings,V the mvensfi is showinas'nppiied to -a'cos Y the coiitaineijf-is:impart. Supported,ithe-coheri'ng'rthe 1same "to, thecicsinglmachiiie is simi- 'Theinventioh isiict iai' io tfhrtshown in the Sedwickpatentqn'dzfurther-detailed 'description thereof isk not f ed liidt receive lthetimed, cntaiiiers andi deiiifeif the; `Smie i'o the :closing mechanism;may-"be cated at C in the drawings. As the disc rotates the containersresting thereon will move with the disc. There is a guide rail 9 whichoverhangs the traveling disc 5. There are other guide rails not shownwhich direct the containers onto the disc and against the guide rail 9.There is also a guide rail 10 pivotally supported at 1l and movedthrough suitable devlces by a weight 12 so that a lug 13 is yieldinglyheld in contact with the stop screw 14. The containers are directed bythe traveling disc against the guide rail 9 and through the aid of theguide rail 10 will be caused to engagethe timing devices.

The timing device consists of a traveling chain 15 carrying a series offingers 16. Each finger 16 is provided with a face 17 which issubstantially at right angles to the path of travel of the chain betweenthe supporting sprockets therefor. The chain is supported at one end bya sprocket wheel 18. This sprocket wheel 18 is mounted on a bracket 19carried by the frame supporting the drum 1. The chain is supported atits other end by a sprocket wheel 20. The sprocket wheel 20 is mountedon a shortshaft 21 journaled in the bracket 19. At the upper end of theshaft is a bevel gear 22 which meshes with a bevel gear 23 on a shaft24. The shaft 24 carries a sprocket Wheel 25 at its outer end. The drum1 is mounted on a shaft 26. On the other end of this shaft is a sprocketwheel 27. A driving chain 28 passes under the sprocket wheel 27 and overthe sprocket wheel 25. This chain runs over an idler 29.

On the shaft 6 is a worm gear 30 which meshes with a spiral gear 31carried by the shaft 32. On the outer end of the shaft 32 is a sprocketwheel 33. The sprocket chain 28 also runs over this sprocket Wheel 33.As the shaft 26 of the drum rotates it will impart rotation to thesprocket wheel 33 and the sprocket wheel 25. Thus it is that the disc 5is ro tated and also the timing chain 15 driven.

The guide rail 9 is so positioned that the timing finger 16 as ittravels about the sprocket Wheel 18 will be righted up so that the face17 of the finger is substantially at right angles to the path of travelof the s rocket chain l5 across the upper face of tie disc 5. Thisoccurs before the finger comes from behind the guide rail 9. The path ofmovement of the timing fingers is a. cord of the circle of thecircumference of the traveling disc 5. The containers on the disc haveimparted thereto a bodily movement in a circular path conforming to thecircle of the circumference of the disc 5. The timing fingers move in astraight path of travel across the disc as noted, and will, therefore,have a uniform speed of travel. The container as it is moved by the discfrom the position shown at C to the position shown at C is traveling ina direction toward the timing chain and also in a direction with thedirection of travel of the timing chain. The speed of movement of thecontainer toward the chain gradually decreases until the containerreaches a line passing through the center of rotation of the disc atright angles of the chain.

As the container moves to the position shown at C2 its speed of travelincreases slightly as the container is shifted outward on the disc bythe guide rail 10. As the container moves to the position shown at C3 itis moved still further out on the disc, but the portion of the disc onwhich the container rests is moving at a greater speed away from thechain and, therefore, the movement imparted to the container by the discis retarded.

The containers will, therefore, be placed against the chain and carriedagainst the rear face of the finger 16 when the position indicated at C2is reached. These timing lingers are relatively close together so thatthere is ample room for the container between the fingers with a slightfreedom of movement so as tovavoid an rubbing or scratching contactbetween the ngers and the container. As the container continues itsmovement it will be placed against the front face of the timing finger16 and this is the fully timed position of the container. The fingerthen becomes the active feeding element for presenting the container tothe feed drum or the feedin mechanism which receives and delivers t esame to the closing machine. should strike against the end of the fingerthe guide rail 10 will yield and allow it to pass in rear of the fingeror force it in front of the finger so that it will be positioned againstthe chain. This engagement with the end is not the usual action of thecontainers. The container C which is placed in between the timingfingers will hold back the container C so that it will pass behind thefinger 16. The fingers are traveling in a straight path in a forwarddirection when they become active in the timing of the containers. Thecontainers are really7 carried against the rear face of the timingfingers at the first portion of the travel of the fingers Whilecontrolling the containers, and then the container will be placedagainst the front face of the timing fingers and conveyed to the feeddrum. The finger has substantially no sliding contact with the containerand, therefore, the decorated surface of the container will not in anyway be scraped or disturbed. These fingers can travel very close to thedisc and, therefore, containers which are very low in height may If thecontainer y be readilyreceivediandvtimed by thistiming device.k n p y lThe disc atthe point of tangency with Athe line of feed of thecontainers by the feed drum '-1, whichline is controlledby 'theguide'rail l yis traveling faster than the feed of ythe closingmachine.Thetiming fingers move in a ypath parallel with the line of yfeedqof theclosing machine and at substantially the same speed as the feed oftheclosing machine.

From the above' it. willbey apparent that kthe container is receivedontovthe Arotating disc promiscuously and carried therebyl against thetimingy chain. The chainiisdis-` posed so that 'itissubstantiallytangential;

' to the path of movement given to the containers by the disc so thatthe containers moveV in a circular path until they contact with thechainthen in a tangential path as they fol'- k.low along with the chain.i At this point of ftangency where the container starts on its straighttravel Lthe vfingers of thej chain are moving slightlyslowerthanthedisc. At this pointjor'slightly followingk this point, the

r, containerwill becar'ried against the rear face ofthe yfinger andthenger Lofthe chain Ywill i retardithje ytravel of the container, thusbringing about a-spacingof the containers. As the f containery movesalong ink a' straight Vpath of" travel conveyed bythe rotatingdisc,g,the ref', e,

sultant speed of travel imparted to thev con'-V tainer bythe discgradually decreases as all of thecontainer atthis time. As a' result'thecontainer continues to move but itsmovement is retarded to suchan'extent that' it is'ene machine,vandolitside the path offtravelof thecontainers kon the disk, guide rails asso- 1 ciated with the disk fordirecting the containers, one at a time, against the flexible member,-iingers carried by' the fiexible member and spaced? apart a distancesuicient to receive rrtherebetweena container, the forward faces of saidfingers being at right anglesto the line of feed and the rear faces ofsaid fingers beinginclined tothe line of feed so as to permit Lof thecontainers being closelyspaced as they are fed by the flexible member,said lfingers being timed so as to deliverthe con-V tainers to theclosing machine feed, and means for operating said disk and said fingersrso a0r that the disk at the point of tangency` ywith i the line of feedtravels slightly faster than said fingersfwhereby the container will befirst carried against the rear face of the fin-V gers for spacing andtiming the containers While the following.- finger delivers thecontainer to the feedforthe closing machine..

In testimony whereof, I larzr mysignatnre.

` HENRY A. lFINE. Y

f points of the disc are traveling in a curved 'v l pathvaway from thestraight line of travell y Y gaged by the front face-of the followingtim, Y

` ing'finger onthe chain. Thistiminglinger y tailsof constructionlandthearrangement-of the' parts' may be made without departing Y f fromthespirit of the invention asset forth -l'f Vin the appended claim.V 1 ny f j yHaving fully described my :invention what f 'Y' I Aclaimfasenewanddesire to secure by Letters Patent,'is:

rAJn'iechanism for feedinglfilled Acontainers f in predeterminedspaced'relation and in propl n er timing to a closing machineYcomprisingl rotatingdisk adapted to receive containersat random,anfndless fiexible member traveling over Said Idisk iin-fa;k direction,Substantially parallel With the line of feed to the closing 9o ,95p A"loo "los j

